Local Journalism Initiative names new president, board members
The Local Journalism Initiative recently announced the appointment of its new leadership team and board members.
Having founded and incubated the organization over the past several years, Allison Taylor Levine, MPA, APR, will serve as president. Known for her passion for democracy, journalism and community, Levine has spent the past 20 years in various communications and community leadership roles in Delaware.
“We have the opportunity to build up our democracy and our communities in Delaware by strengthening the local news and information ecosystem,” Levine said. “LJI is committed to working with the existing local newsrooms and finding new ways to provide the information Delawareans need to thrive on a daily basis, participate in our democracy, and build the powerful social connections that make us a community.”
The seven board members will continue to advance the organization's mission of increasing coverage that reflects the diverse needs of Delawareans. They are: Chair Amy Cherry, University of Delaware communications manager; Vice Chair Schlonn Hawkins, Shelterforce president and CEO; Treasurer Mark Baxter, Rodel senior program director; Secretary Matt Sullivan, Short Order Production House chief operating officer; Jill DiPaolo, Sussex County Public Libraries outreach services librarian; Laurie Jacobs, Delaware State Housing Authority director of public relations; and Andre Smith, University of Delaware digital communications manager.
"I'm honored to serve as chair of the board for the Local Journalism Initiative. With more than a decade as assistant news director at WDEL and several years as an editor at WBZ in Boston, I've dedicated the bulk of my career to journalism as both a form of public service and a vehicle for holding public officials accountable,” Cherry said. “With local news in crisis across the country, LJI is poised to have a profound impact on the state of journalism in the First State. Through innovation and partnerships, LJI is committed to improving the quality of information, and increasing transparency and access to information for all Delawareans.”
In June 2022, the initiative released Delaware’s Local News & Information Ecosystem Assessment: Key Findings and Opportunities, a report on its comprehensive, community-centered research project that explores how Delawareans consume local news and information, analyzes gaps in coverage, and provides a set of recommendations for how the community can work together to improve access to high-quality, independent, local news and information for everyone.
LJI also is working to build a pipeline of historically underrepresented journalists through an internship program established in partnership with the Delaware Community Foundation and the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association. Through the program, aspiring journalists are placed in newsrooms throughout the state to elevate the voices and stories of people of color and other historically underrepresented communities.
The initiative’s Delaware Journalism Collaborative consists of local news outlets that are pooling their resources to create coverage and lead conversations on important community challenges. Funded by the Solutions Journalism Network, this solutions-journalism collaborative is currently focused on the issue of polarization – what divides communities and how people can work together more effectively.
“The work of LJI comes at a critical time, locally and nationally,” Hawkins said. “People are tuned in now more than ever to key issues like housing, education, racial justice and more. Local journalism has served a critical role in bridging the gap between people and the information they need to know about their communities. However, in the last decade, we have witnessed a dramatic loss of reliable local news sources. My hope is that the efforts of LJI will be one of many catalysts reinvigorating local journalism in Delaware that serves its people, especially communities of color.”
To learn more, go to ljidelaware.org.
